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LitNet Akademies Jaargang 9(2), Augustus 2012
In the second, short part of the article, selected poems by Martjie Bosman from the volume
Toevallige tekens (2010) are discussed by asking: What does an ecopoem look like? Common
themes and characteristics present in ecopoetry are identified. Attention is given to four areas
of coherence and interconnectivity, as manifested in ecopoetry: the ecology of the visual,
with special reference to the front page and title; the ecology of beauty; the ecology of place
and the ecology of poem structure and processes.
In conclusion: Morton (2010:11) states that “[a]ll poems are environmental, because they
include the spaces in which they are written and read – blank spaces around and between
words, silence within the sound.” Ecocriticism, and in particular, ecopoetry, allows the reader
a fresh perspective on poetry, challenging the established perceptions of place and
environment and nature. It allows for the interconnectivity and relationship to be studied. It
challenges the space and place of the poem itself, and of what is left as open, white space.
Man becomes the listener, on the edge, to the voice of the natural world:
You own nothing
We never belonged to you.
You never found us.
It was the other way round. (Atwood 1995:109)
Key words: ecocriticism; ecopoetics; ecopoetry; ecological connectivity; revised sublime;
postmodern sublime; new Other; fractions; fracturing
1. Inleiding
Thus man, this world's vice-emperor, in whom
All faculties, all graces are at home;
And if in other creatures they appear,
They're but man's ministers, and legates there,
To work on their rebellions, and reduce
Them to civility and to man's use. (Donne 1971:275)
Reeds in 1611 beskryf die metafisiese digter John Donne die verhouding tussen die mens en
die natuur in sy gedig "An anatomy of the world”, woorde wat weerklank vind in
hedendaagse debatte oor die mens en sy misbruik van die niemenslike wêreld wat hom
omring. Donne voer aan dat ander kreature – ‘n frase waarin ons “die ganse niemenslike
wêreld” kan inlees – aan die genade van die instrumentele gebruik van die mens onderworpe
is. Later in dieselfde gedig beskryf hy hoe die wêreld aan stukke is, hoe alle samehang tot
niet is, ’n gedagte wat tans wyd resoneer in gesprekke rondom die ekologie.
Lawrence Buell, een van die pioniers van die ekokritiese beweging, wys daarop dat die
mense se vroegste verhale dié is oor die aarde se skepping en God en mense se
transformerende ingryping daarop, wat ’n aanduiding is van die feit dat
omgewingsbewustheid en -kritiek as ontluikende dissipline antieke wortels het (Buell 2005:1-
2).
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